CBS 5 Cameraman Beaten, Robbed After Oakland Live Shot

OAKLAND (CBS SF) – A photojournalist for CBS 5 San Francisco was beaten and robbed of his camera by a group of young men in Oakland following a live newscast report Wednesday.

Photographer Gregg Welk and reporter Anne Makovec had just finished their noon report on the passage of Prop 30 in front of Oakland Technical High School on the 4300 block of Broadway.

After the live shot, an unknown number of men rushed up, punched Welk and grabbed his camera, according to CBS 5 Communications Director Akilah Bolden-Monifa.

The men then fled in a car with the camera. Welk suffered minor injuries, was treated at a hospital and released, according to Bolden-Monifa. Makovec was not hurt.

The attack was the latest among a series of incidents involving members of the press in Oakland. In recent months, journalists with the Oakland Tribune, KTVU and KNTV have been accosted and robbed of laptops, cameras and tripods. The cost of broadcast-quality cameras can run into the tens of thousands of dollars each.

During last year’s Occupy Oakland protests, a number of TV news vans were vandalized and a photographer for KGO-TV attacked while covering a murder near the Occupy encampment.

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